Osprey Games has previewed a new Historical rule set coming your way for those battles during the 17th Century. Let us know if you like the sound of Pikeman’s Lament.

So what’s it all about?

“Recreate the action and drama of 17th Century warfare on your tabletop with The Pikeman’s Lament. Start by creating your Officer – is he a natural leader raised from the ranks, the youngest son of a noble family, or an old veteran who has seen too many battles? As you campaign, your Officer will win honour and gain promotion, acquiring traits that may help lead his men to victory.

Before each skirmish, your Officer must raise his Company from a wide range of unit options – should he lean towards hard-hitting heavy cavalry or favour solid, defensively minded infantry? Companies are typically formed from 6-8 units, each made up of either 6 or 12 figures, and quick, decisive, and dramatic games are the order of the day.

With core mechanics based on Daniel Mersey’s popular Lion Rampant rules, The Pikeman’s Lament captures the military flavour of the 17th Century, and allows you to recreate skirmishes and raids from conflicts such as the Thirty Years’ War, the English Civil Wars, and the Great Northern War.”

This sounds like a bunch of fun, especially when it all starts with that Officer that you create. This adds a lot of character to proceedings as you play through your games and hopefully it gives you a way to build up from smaller games right up to larger battles.

Will you be keeping an eye on this one?

"This sounds like a bunch of fun, especially when it all starts with that Officer that you create..."

Awesome it’s great to have these smaller sized games with this much (looks like anyway) flexability and the option for a campaign. Very easy to grab a few boxes and have either one super customised army or two armies so you and a freind can dive straight in.

Of course it also means I can’t keep looking at the mountain of unpainted Pike and Shot period stuff and say “Yeah but I can’t use them until I paint hundreds of minis”